The Anti-Relationship Year by Katie Wismer

I received this book for free from Author to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Johanna Palmer is very much over relationships. After a scarring experience her freshman year of college, she’s decided she would much rather have something fun than something serious.

Her best friend Miller has seen it all—the tears, the parties, the drunken phone calls at four in the morning when she needed a ride. In fact, there might be several things Miller saw that Jo herself can’t remember.

Things Miller can’t forget.

With the whirlwind of senior year underway, Jo just wants to move on, get her degree, and land her dream job. But her past might not be as easy to outrun as she’d hoped.

The Anti-Relationship Year is a companion to The Anti-Virginity Pact, but both books can be read as standalones. 

CW: Pregnancy, Pregnancy Termination, Depression

Happy Book Birthday to The Anti-Relationship Year!!!

Last year, I read and reviewed The Anti-Virginity Pact (TAVP) and wondered then if we would ever see a book with any of the characters from that book again. Well, this year, Katie Wismer has brought us a sequel – that can be read as a standalone.

The Anti-Relationship Year (TARY) focuses on Johanna, who goes by Jo. The book bounces back and forth between her freshman and senior years of college, giving us a glimpse of what happens to her during her freshman year that influences how she behaves in her senior year.

Character wise, I love Johanna – I loved her in TAVP, and I love her just as much in TARY. She goes through so much, but she does what is necessary to help herself get better.

I also really like Miller. He is Jo’s best friend at college and he is super loyal. He sticks by her through everything – even when others don’t.

And then there are the following characters, who each need to be slapped: Kayleigh, Addie, Liv, Shay, and Grey. Each has a different reason that I wish I could reach through the pages and just give them a good slap upside their head. While two of these characters will at least attempt to apologize to Jo, the rest won’t bother and frankly, I doubt Jo would want their apologies anyway.

I love Katie’s writing style. It is fast-paced and easy to read. I read TARY in less than 24 hours – I started about 8PM on March 28, took a break after chapter 6 to finish another book, read through chapter 22, went to bed, and then finished the last four chapters at about 3PM on March 29. I rarely read books that fast, so you know it’s easy to read and a really good book when I read that fast.

For those who worry about the fact that the series is The Pact and this is book 2, don’t. This book was meant to be able to be read as a standalone. So if you haven’t read TAVP, don’t sweat it. Trust me, it’s a five star read and you really ought to pick it up.